Sexual reproduction—from both physiological and behavioral perspectives—is dependent upon appropriate connections between a diverse, hormone-modulated network of neural regions. Importantly, these substrates are regulated by hormones across the lifespan from early development to adulthood, making them targets of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Rodents, such as mice and rats, are invaluable to the characterization of EDCs because of their sex-specific, stereotyped appetitive and consummatory reproductive behaviors. Phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), and EDC mixtures pose a salient risk to the health of humans, wildlife, and livestock because these synthetic compounds are ubiquitous due to their widespread use in mass production of consumer and industrial goods. This review outlines how the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis regulates male and female sexual behaviors, and how phthalates and BPA can perturb appetitive and consummatory behaviors and impact neural substrates that modulate reproductive behavior. We will then discuss how to progress toward a clearer understanding of the reproductive and neurobiological changes that occur due to EDC exposure.
Reproduction is committed to supporting researchers in demonstrating the impact of their articles published in the journal.
The two types of article metrics we measure are (i) more traditional full-text views and pdf downloads, and (ii) Altmetric data, which shows the wider impact of articles in a range of non-traditional sources, such as social media.
More information is on the Reasons to publish page.
Sept 2018 onwards | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Full Text Views | 4 | 4 | 1 |
PDF Downloads | 6 | 6 | 1 |